


Fresh

by avocadomoon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Thor!Jane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 00:08:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20266780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avocadomoon/pseuds/avocadomoon
Summary: "Well," Thor said, "it's a hammer. So you...hammer stuff."





	Fresh

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlsarewolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsarewolves/gifts).

"So how does it work?"

"Well," Thor said, "it's a hammer. So you...hammer stuff." He mimed a hammering motion with both hands, grimacing comically and growling a little, before sheepishly letting his arms fall. "You know. In a righteous manner."

"Right," Jane said slowly, "but how does it _work?_"

"Oh." His face cleared. "It's made of an element which channels the quantum kinetic energy in your body. You can summon it yourself of course, but until you learn how to control it, best to use the hammer." He reached out and knocked his knuckles on the metal shoulder of her breastplate. "Plus, it looks cool."

Jane readjusted her cape. Again. "The helmet is a little…"

"Brunnhilde's idea. I told her you'd prefer a tiara." Thor looked anxious all of a sudden. "Not that I'm implying that you're not mighty enough for a helmet, my lady. I mean, your highness. I mean - "

"Seriously, you can just call me Jane," Jane said. "I called you 'Thor' when you were still, uh, Thor."

"Technically, _you_ are now Thor," Thor said. 

"We can't _both_ be Thor. So why don't you stay Thor and I'll stay Jane, and we'll tell everyone to call me like, Miss Lightning Strike or something."

Thor wrinkled his nose. "That's a terrible superhero name."

"Well, we'll workshop it," Jane said. She leaned Mjolnir carefully against the side of her desk, and pulled the helmet off with some difficulty. It was hard to breathe in that thing - she was still fairly certain it was actually some kind of sly hazing joke from Valkyrie, who conspicuously did _not_ wear a helmet into battle, ever. "Besides, I'm only going to be Thor temporarily while you're on your sabbatical."

"Right," Thor said, perking up a little. Without his powers, he looked...much like himself, if a little bit less imposing. More like a hunky surfer than a hunky superhero, and Jane had even convinced him to dye his hair and wear some glasses in an effort to fly under the radar. He was due to teach a semester of particle physics at a community college in Maine - a lovely destressing technique that Jane herself highly recommended. There was no better cure for burnout than grading freshman-level particle physics worksheets, in her opinion. "I still need an alias myself. I was thinking of something dignified - Alfvaldr, perhaps. Or Oddbiǫrn."

"Um," Jane said, "I was thinking something a little closer to home. Tom?"

"Thom," Thor said thoughtfully, pronouncing it with his weird little Latin accent. "Hm. Yes, I like it."

"Thom Foster," Jane teased. "Community college professor, amateur linguist. Enjoys knitting, 1960s caper films, and craft beer."

"I did quite enjoy that kind you bought me the other day," Thor said. "With the grapefruit in it?"

"I knew you'd like it." Jane crossed the space between them with a little difficulty - she was still getting used to her new proportions; the few extra inches of height, plus all her new, very impressive ab muscles, meant that she had to relearn how to do _everything,_ it was actually really annoying. "But you have to really try to stay undercover. That means no superheroing, no avenging, no rabblerousing or damsel-rescuing - "

"The only damsel I'll be paying attention to is you, my lady," Thor said warmly, "and you haven't needed my rescue in a long time."

Once upon a time, there would've been some bitterness in that sentence, but one nice thing about this brave new world they were living in - and this brave new _Thor_ she was still getting to know - was that nothing was truly scandalous or surprising or scary anymore. Whatever the universe had done to him, in those years they'd been apart, it had brought home a newer, braver man to Jane - one that seemed unafraid of all the things that had driven them apart before. Vulnerability, intensity, intimacy. The breathtaking terror of making a promise. The fear of admitting things you weren't proud of, of looking stupid in front of someone you loved. 

Also, the Roomba. (He'd been extremely suspicious of it, before. Now, he seemed rather fond of it, and also robots in general.)

"But I'll need your advice," Jane said, just as warm. She reached up and touched his face, and he turned his cheek into her palm like a flower reaching upward for the sun. "I'm a newbie to this superhero gig, remember."

"You'll be fine," Thor murmured. "You were a hero long before I gave you my inheritance, Jane. Long before I even knew you."

Jane's knees went a little weak, as they always did when he looked at her like that. "You're buttering me up."

"Buttering?"

"Flattering me."

"With the truth!" Thor slid his big hands - a little less godly, but just as strong and broad as she remembered them - around her waist. "I wouldn't dare to speak anything else, in front of my Queen."

"Am I?" Jane asked, a little freaked out by the concept. She looked down at her new body, the armor she still secretly couldn't stand. Mjolnir was a warm presence in the back of her mind, and she knew if she reached out her palm She would come, moving the universe around their feet in order to bring Herself into Jane's holy grip. "Even with no realm to rule?"

"Asgard is not a place," Thor said gravely, "it is a people. Scattered as we are, I can only use my voice to speak for them the best I know how. And you, my lady, are the star we follow. You will not lead us astray."

Jane took a deep, shaky breath. "For the next five months, anyway."

"Sure," Thor said. It sounded funny, like he was making a joke. Jane's heart skipped a beat. "Until my freshpeople class is finished."

"Freshman," Jane corrected, laughing a little. 

"Oh yes, right," Thor said, leaning down to rub his nose against hers affectionately. "I knew that."

"Uh huh," Jane said.


End file.
